A store, e.g., like Wal-Mart Stores, may manage its inventories using a certain coding system, e.g., conventional barcode systems. In such a system, inventories may be encoded with barcodes and stored in a database before or upon their arrival at the store. Later, when a product in the inventory is sold to a customer, the product may be deducted from the inventory based on the barcode scan at a checkout counter. Within a store, products in the inventories may be first stored in a storage or backroom before being moved to shelves in front. Since barcodes are passive labels attached to products, barcodes may not identify locations, e.g., spots or shelves in a store, of these products in the store.
RFID recently emerged as a technology of choice for store inventory management. For example, U.S. patent application, entitled “RFID Promotional Compliance”, filed on even date, by Richard Ulrich (incorporated herein by reference), describes a method of managing promotional merchandise displays using RFID tags. In such a system, locational RFID tags may be placed on locational spots, e.g., pallets, shelves or ground areas, to uniquely identify the geometrical locations with RFID tag identifications. Further, the geometrical locations and their corresponding RFID tag identifications may be entered into an RFID database, e.g., manually, to map out the store in terms of RFID tags. RFID tags may also be placed on products to uniquely identify individual products or groups of products, e.g., a group of products on a pallet. When products are placed in a location within a store, e.g., on a pallet in the storage or on a shelf in the front, an RFID scanner may read both the product RFID tags and nearby locational RFID tags simultaneously. By comparing the product RFID tags and simultaneously-read locational RFID tags with information stored in the RFID tag database, the store may conveniently locate the placement of merchandise in the inventory.